Carb-buffet

Apparently our new ward does a Christmas breakfast instead of a dinner each year. So this morning we hauled everyone out of bed and trekked to the church for our morning nourishment. People brought breakfast baked goods in all varieties: coffee cakes, doughnuts, danishes, cinnamon rolls, caramel pull apart bread (yum!), and muffins in several varieties, including dairy-free-egg-free blueberry muffins (these were mine of course, brought so Matthew would have something to eat and to their soy-based credit, they were one of the first things to completely disappear). There were several fruit offerings and the ward provided hot chocolate.

There was a program of some sort: I hear there was a dance-off featuring leaders from all the different organizations, but we missed that portion while we were doing our tithing settlement and I find I'm not overly sorry about that. I have a really hard time watching people make fools of themselves. I get so embarrassed for them that I can hardly stand it. Anyway, after that portion we sang a few songs and welcomed Santa . . . who had a scheduling misunderstanding of some kind and ended up being much thinner and younger than usual (he couldn't stand up or his pseudo belly fat would have dropped down to his knees and his pants probably would have come off-not the kind of Santa that is usually welcomed at a family affair). Nathan got in line to talk to Santa right away, Daniel hung back for a bit (one of his friends said Brother R. was Santa and Daniel was checking in with me . . . I told him not to listen to everything his friends say, but the doubt is already there so he's more skeptical than in the past) and Matthew was just plain dubious about the whole thing. Apparently Nathan wants a remote control car (Santa has something else picked out for him that will hopefully be just as fun), Matthew wants toys (easy enough!), and Daniel's wish list is about five miles long (to be completely honest, I don't think Santa will be supplying a single thing on it since he was finished with his shopping about three weeks before the list came into existence, but Santa is pretty sure Daniel will like what will be coming).

(Notice Matthew's death grip on the marshmallows-one of the ladies on the activities committee lives across the street from us and knows about Matthew's stuff so when there were unopened bags of marshmallows left over, she offered it to him)

Overall, it was a pretty fun morning, the exception being the moment when one of the older ladies in the ward (all her children are grown) came and stood by me with Daniel in earshot and asked who was playing Santa this year. My response? "I think Santa is playing Santa this year." I thought she had gotten my enormous hint, at least she reacted like she had, but them she made another comment about someone else who would make a good Santa. Please, make my doubting Daniel even more skeptical. Go ahead. I love it. Needless to say, I politely made my exit, taking Daniel with me. We'll just have to wait and see how long Daniel can hang on to the magic.